A year ago today, I sat down at my laptop and wrote a thread about what makes Trump tick.
It was the first thing I ever wrote about narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).
Or, better put, it was the first thing I ever wrote about surviving an NPD.
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It was the first thing I ever wrote about narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).
Or, better put, it was the first thing I ever wrote about surviving an NPD.
1/
It wasn't planned. I just pulled up Twitter and started typing.
After 20 years of seeing it up close and an endless amount of study and coaching from therapists, it was no harder than describing an old friend.
I wrote it straight through in one clean pass.
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After 20 years of seeing it up close and an endless amount of study and coaching from therapists, it was no harder than describing an old friend.
I wrote it straight through in one clean pass.
2/
From the start, Trump was just uncomfortably familiar to me.
His early campaign was acutely agonizing.
It was like watching a horror movie and knowing exactly what's coming while the characters can't hear you yelling at the screen.
That sucked.
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His early campaign was acutely agonizing.
It was like watching a horror movie and knowing exactly what's coming while the characters can't hear you yelling at the screen.
That sucked.
3/
By last year though, that initial PTSD-like experience had eased and in it's place was just a settled familiarity.
Trump is awful in all of the ways we know he is...
...but his behavior is as familiar and predictable as a book I've read a thousand times.
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Trump is awful in all of the ways we know he is...
...but his behavior is as familiar and predictable as a book I've read a thousand times.
4/
Since I'm not a psych, I just wrote it like a view from the inside. A backstage pass of sorts.
"Here's what's going on behind the curtain..."
While I know the psych side well, it was a street map not a textbook.
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"Here's what's going on behind the curtain..."
While I know the psych side well, it was a street map not a textbook.
5/
When I posted it, I had maybe 1,500 followers tops. I had only been on Twitter for six months or so. I was a participant but not much of a contributor...
...and then I threw it out there.
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...and then I threw it out there.
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I gained something like 800 followers overnight. 50% growth!
All that hard crap I had labored to get past and understand and manage through seemed to be of some interest.
Then I got some DMs.
People who had survived an NPD.
People just realizing they were living w one.
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All that hard crap I had labored to get past and understand and manage through seemed to be of some interest.
Then I got some DMs.
People who had survived an NPD.
People just realizing they were living w one.
7/
I was blown away... but more than that, I was gratified.
It felt damn good to have taken a giant mountain of sh** and turned it into something useful.
Over the past year, I've talked to many, many NPD survivors.
There are a lot of us... and we get Trump implicitly.
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It felt damn good to have taken a giant mountain of sh** and turned it into something useful.
Over the past year, I've talked to many, many NPD survivors.
There are a lot of us... and we get Trump implicitly.
8/
To all of the NPD survivors who've reached out or commented or shared that first thread and the others since:
I appreciate ya, my brothers and sisters. I truly do.
Keep speakin'. You never know who that might help.
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I appreciate ya, my brothers and sisters. I truly do.
Keep speakin'. You never know who that might help.
9/
To you old-timers who were in my early circle way back a year ago or who came in after that first thread, thank you.
That was a tipping point for me...
It took me from mostly commenting on other people's stuff to deciding to write more of my own...
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That was a tipping point for me...
It took me from mostly commenting on other people's stuff to deciding to write more of my own...
10/
...and to you folks who've joined along the way, thanks for helping to enlarge our little circle. I appreciate you.
Thanks for putting up with me - even when I'm a ragey rage ball (i.e.: this past week).
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Thanks for putting up with me - even when I'm a ragey rage ball (i.e.: this past week).
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Lastly, about that first thread.
It's held up pretty well, I think - but you can be the judge.
Didn't take a psychic though. Trump is just that damn predictable and that won't change.
Anyway, thx again, y'all.
2018 ain't easy but it's easier together
It's held up pretty well, I think - but you can be the judge.
Didn't take a psychic though. Trump is just that damn predictable and that won't change.
Anyway, thx again, y'all.
2018 ain't easy but it's easier together
https://twitter.com/HoarseWisperer/status/884179117192749056
p.s. Darnit! With Trump in Helsinki to meet with Putin, I meant to link to this one in the middle of the thread rather than the first post...
https://twitter.com/HoarseWisperer/status/884181519018979329
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